우리의 캐피톨은 누구인가? —『헝거 게임』에 나타난 개인과 사회

김경옥

(숙명여자대학교)

This study examines the control, power and system problems of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games through Jean Baudrillard’s cultural theory and focuses on contemporary society and culture. The Hunger Games trilogy is a young adult fantasy novel that is set in Panem, which is a dystopian country in the future. Collins depicts Capitol as a city where children are slaughtered and tyrants are wielding power for entertainment. It also depicts human beings as individuals consumed by greed and desire of power. According to Jean Baudrillard, modern society is a simulated society that is dominated by images and media. It has no distinction between original and copied, reality and virtual worlds. In The Hunger Games, the game is presented as a festival or entertainment but it is a simulacrum of control and surveillance. It defines the relationship between the ruling class and the ruled class as a strategy for concealing power. Collins describes Capitol and the 13th district in Panem as a dystopian world and calls for a critical reflection on modern society. It also reflects the simulacre era in which the real world can no longer distinguish between reality and fantasy.